The Linfield Review March 16, 2015
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Linfield College
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McMinnville, Ore.
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120th Year
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Issue No. 11
President Hellie reflects on future of Linfield, small liberal arts colleges Rosa Johnson @linfieldreview President of Linfield College Thomas L. Hellie addressed the upcoming closure of liberal arts Sweet Briar College in Virginia on March 9 at the faculty assembly meeting. During Hellie’s administrative reports, he addressed the future of liberal arts colleges in America and where Linfield stands. “Many single-gender colleges have been struggling over the last couple decades. Its location is
remote and that may have been a factor in its inability to recruit a sufficient number of students,” Hellie said. Sweet Briar was an all-women’s college that was four times smaller than Linfield, according to Hellie. Sweet Briar has been in financial trouble for the past 15 years. Several years ago the college stopped making contributions to the employees’ retirement plans and it cancelled its annual membership fees to higher education organizations. “[Sweet Briar’s] endowments
began to fall even as the stock markets were going up,” Hellie said. “This came as a shock to everyone especially since Sweet Briar has an endowment of 84 million dollars.” Sweet Briar’s net tuition revenue per student has been shrinking over the last few years even as its enrollment inclined. Fewer students were paying fewer dollars, Hellie said. Revenue increases on a per student basis have been shrinking at Linfield recently and could be flat next year. Linfield finds increasing net
revenue difficult after financial aid because traditional students’ financial resources have not grown even as Linfield’s costs have increased. Along with this issue, Linfield’s spring enrollment has fallen again. “Unlike Sweet Briar, Linfield has had a balanced property budget for the past 39 years. Our endowment is growing, not shrinking. Our location is increasingly attractive in the Pacific Northwest as we have fewer small college competitors. Our demographics are more favorable and we have four times as many students at Lin-
field than there are at Sweet Briar,” Hellie said. Other competing wine education programs in the Pacific Northwest from Oregon State University, Washington State University, Chemeketa Community College and Whitman College could affect Linfield’s enrollment. President Hellie insists that the sooner we appeal to this industry then the more students Linfield will be able to attract. Rosa Johnson can be reached at linfieldreviewmanaging@gmail.com
Photos by Rosa Johnson Freshman Ben Bartu who plays Michael Donovan urges his wife Sophomore Murphy Jackson who plays Ned Cooney, a recently released from jail felon, in “Temporal Powers” looks Min Donovan, played by senior Mackensie Sempert, out of the door in “Temporal Powers.” into the Donovans’ home. Attendees will be able to buy tickets for only $3 on the March 17 show.
Linfield theater brings the luck of the Irish Rosa Johnson @linfieldreview Linfield theater will be bringing the luck of the Irish for St. Patrick’s Day with their latest comedy “Temporal Powers.” The play stars freshman Ben Bartu as Michael Donovan and his wife Min Donovan played by senior
Mackensie Sempert as a penniless couple in Dublin. The Donovans get evicted from their home and have to move into a dingy new home by scenic and lighting director Ty Marshall. The Donovans discover a pouch of money which seems to be the solution to all of their problems until
they learn that their recently released from jail brother-in-law, Ned Cooney played by sophomore Murphy Jackson, was the thief. Mic believes that taking the money is unethical while his wife Min challenges that and sees it as a sign of luck. Sophomore Sammy West plays the lovelorn Lizzie
Brennan who drools over Moses Barron played by junior Lukasz Augustine. “Temporal Powers” is a Linfield PLACE Event and the first production by a college or university theatre in the United States. Directed by Adjunct Professor of Theatre Kathryn Bennett “Temporal Powers” will be showing from
March 17-20 at 7:30 p.m. in Ford Hall. Tickets are available for purchase full price at $9, $5 for students with their ID and $7 for seniors 62 and over. There is a $2 discount for opening night’s show on March 17. Tickets are for sale at the door or online at http:// www.linfield.edu/arts or
by phone, or at the Marshall Theatre Box Office. Located just inside the lobby of Ford Hall, the box office is open Monday through Friday from 3 to 5 p.m., and until 7:30 p.m. on performance days. For more information, call 503.883.2292.
Rosa Johnson can be reached at linfieldreviewmanaging@gmail.com
Inside: News
Features
Opinion
Students talk housing and roommate conflicts and success stories as housing contracts for the 2015-2016 school year approach.
Linfield students share stories of their hidden on-campus pets, RAs comment on the validity of the no-pets policy, and the merits of pets for students are discussed.
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Misinformation surrounding the wage gap is explored and clarified in the first article of a three-part series which aims to critically examine the problems with modern feminism. >> Page 2
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Opinions
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LINFIELD REVIEW 900 SE Baker St. Unit A518 McMinnville, OR 97128
Phone: (503) 883-5789 E-mail: linfieldrevieweditor@gmail.com Web: www.thelinfieldreview.com Editor-in-chief Helen Lee Managing editor Rosa Johnson Associate editor Samantha Sigler News editor Jonathan Williams Sports editor Copy editor Business manager Heather Brooks Culture editor Gilberto Galvez Features editor Mikenna Whatley
March 16, 2015
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EDITORIAL
Deferred recruitment’s impact unclear The recent choice to defer Greek life recruitment to spring semester has raised a variety of concerns and sparked conversation between those who support and oppose the decision. While there are potential benefits to deferred recruitment, there are also significant problems, and the Greek organizations on campus were given little to no opportunity to impact the decision. Deferred recruitment may improve the experiences of freshmen on campus. Establishing an identity outside of a sorority or fraternity encourages students to seek out different opportunities and expand
their social circles. However, there could be a more negative effect. Greek organizations allow for an easier and quicker social circle than most other opportunities. Freshmen who otherwise would remain at Linfield because of Greek life could potentially leave after their first semester. It’s difficult to decide if the decision will have a more strongly positive or negative impact until it is put into practice. Aside from the actual outcomes of the idea, the presentation and communication to Greek organizations on campus was poor. The Greek organiza-
tions on campus did vote on whether or not they supported deferred recruitment. The results of this vote were mostly negative, and the idea was met with heavy resistance. Regardless of the vote, they were told that deferred recruitment would be enacted in two or three years anyway, bringing into question whether or not the vote was of any importance to the decision. Shortly afterward, the time frame was also changed without warning, and deferred recruitment will now be put into place immediately for the 20152016 school year. This is a harsh method
Editor-in-chief Monday 4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. or by appointment
of transitioning. Student input was largely disreManaging editor garded, and the sudden Wednesdays shift in time frame means 1-2 p.m. that the organizations will or by appointment have a more difficult time adjusting to the new budFollow us on Twitter get problems of having no @linfieldreview fall recruits. and Like us on Facebook Stalling the decision as was originally intended would allow for more time Corrections to adjust and make plans accordingly. Overall, it’s difficult to The Linfield Review publishes say if the decision will be corrections from the previous truly beneficial or harmful week’s issue in this spot every until the next school year week that a correction is needed. To submit a correction, email begins. But a better discussion about these kinds of linfieldreviewmanaging@gmail. com changes should be encouraged for the future. -The Linfield Review Editorial Board
Opinion editor Parker Wells Photo editor Michaela Fujita Graphics/ads designer Illustrator Kyle Sharrer Circulation manager Patty Roberts Columnists Adviser Brad Thompson Associate Professor of Mass Communication The Linfield Review is an independent, student-run newspaper. The contents of this publication are the opinions and responsibility of the Review staff and do not reflect the views or policy of the Associated Students of Linfield College or of Linfield College. Signed commentaries and comics are the opinions of the individual writers or artists. The Review is funded by advertising and subscription revenue and ASLC and is produced in cooperation with the Linfield College Department of Mass Communication. The Linfield Review is published biweekly on Mondays throughout the fall and spring semesters. Exceptions include the week before and of Thanksgiving and Spring Break and the week of final exams in both semesters. A single copy of the Review is free from newsstands. Subscriptions are $50 for a year and $35 for a semester. Memberships The Linfield Review is a member of the collegiate division of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and the Associated Collegiate Press, a national college newspaper group. 2013-2014 ONPA Awards Third in General Excellence First in Best Section Second in Best Photography First and second in Best Sports Photography Third in Best Website Second in Best Headline Writing Third in Best House Advertisement Letters to the editor Letters to the editor must be signed with name, date and address. Students should include major and year. The Review reserves the right to refuse any letter and to edit letters for length. Letters must be received no later than noon Friday to appear in the Review the following Monday. Letters are limited to 2,500 characters or fewer. Longer pieces may be submitted as guest commentary. Opinion articles Opinion articles written by individual staff members do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper as a whole. These pieces are solely the opinion of the individual authors, and complaints about opinion articles can be written as letters to the editor which may be published, or as private comments emailed to the opinion editor. All sources used in opinion articles can be viewed as hyperlinks on the online edition.
Kyle Sharrer/Illustrator
Social Commentary
Feminist movement misguided, problematic Achieving gender equality is among the highest goals of modern day America, and it is widely believed that feminism is capable of making that goal possible. The harsh reality is that the modern feminist movement is misguided. Without critical re-examination and drastic change, it will continue to do more harm than good in reaching equality. Feminism in America perpetuates myths and dishonesty, which has negative effects on the social and political outcomes of the movement. For example, the popular wage gap argument is perhaps the most inaccurate and problematic talking point of feminism. Common wording of the wage gap is that women make 77 cents to every dollar for doing the same work as a man. However, this claim has been proven false. The Consad Research Corporation prepared a
Parker Wells @linfieldreview study in 2009 for the U.S. Department of Labor which found that the adjusted gender wage gap for men and women in the exact same career is between 4.8 and 7.1 percent. “This study leads to the unambiguous conclusion that the differences in the compensation of men and women are the result of a multitude of factors and that the raw wage gap should not be used as the basis to justify corrective action. Indeed, there may be nothing to correct. The differences in raw wages may be almost entirely the result of the individual choices being made by both
male and female workers,” the Consad Research Corporation stated. Payscale researchers also performed a study which examined starting salaries for college graduates by degree, and took even more factors into consideration. The average wage gap shrank to less than 2 percent in their findings. A majority of women tend to pursue careers in lower-paying fields, but those fields pay equally as low for men doing the same job. When presented with this information, the most common feminist reaction is to claim that the reason women tend toward lowerpaying fields is because of workplace discrimination and sexism in the sciences. This claim has also been proven false by a variety of studies. According to 2010 research conducted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
female underrepresentation in the sciences is a result of the choices of individual workers, and that all data available “fails to support assertions of discrimination.” The report says, “gendered outcomes in the real world result from differences in resources attributable to choices… The ongoing focus on sex discrimination in reviewing, interviewing, and hiring represents costly, misplaced effort: Society is engaged in the present in solving problems of the past.” It is important for a movement which aims to change the laws and culture of a country to accept reality and strive toward changing observable, factual problems rather than invented ones. If feminist assertions about discrimination are uncritically accepted as the causes for women’s underrepresentation in higherpaying fields, then valuable resources will be wasted
on courses, demonstrations and policy changes. These have no impact on the actual issues that lead to inequality. These wasted resources could instead be committed toward encouraging women to make higher-paying career choices, which is the factual core of the issue. As demonstrated by the misunderstanding surrounding the wage gap, feminism in America is striving toward unattainable goals. Trying to solve a nonexistent problem not only prevents real problems from being addressed, but also creates new issues as policies and attitudes change based on misinformation. If equality is truly the goal, coming from a place of honesty is the only way to do it. And feminism as it exists in America is failing to be honest in its assertions. Parker Wells can be reached at linfieldreviewopinion@gmail.com
March 16, 2015
News
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As housing contracts approach, students talk choices, issues Mikenna Whatley @linfieldreviewnews For many students, college is the first time in their lives experiencing what it’s like to live with a roommate. Transitioning into college and sharing a room can be difficult, if one has become accustomed to their own space. This experience may be more difficult for some students than others, it teaches the skills to communicate with a roommate who is going through the same experience. Each individual’s situation elicits its own kind of relationship. While a majority of students get placed with a random roommate they’ve never met before their freshmen year, as college goes on, more and more students tend to group together and choose who they live with. Either way, living with roommates is one of the most memorable experiences in college for many students. Random roommate selection Being placed with a random roommate often turns out to be a pleasant surprise. Many roommates find that Linfield does a fairly good job pairing students together based on the housing survey they fill out prior to moving in. Many freshmen roommates are assigned based on how they describe their personality traits in the survey. This way, even though roommates may have different interests and majors they often get along and live together very well. Assigning roommates is also a great way that Linfield sort of forces students outside their comfort zones right away. “I got assigned a random roommate and it ended up being super great,” freshman Madison Frasier said. “She is always there for me. I am so lucky to have her. Definitely a good experience.” Roommates who have contrasting interests but might have similar personal tendencies get a chance to get to know each other and other students who they may not have otherwise met since they wouldn’t necessarily have traveled in the same social circles had they not been assigned to live together. However, there are often still a few cases in which randomly assigned roommate situations do not go as well as they could. “My roommate and I are really different,” one freshman said, “So even though we spend like ten hours a day together, we rarely even exchange a word.” Some freshmen do happen to know exactly who they want to live with when they come to college, and Linfield is typically good about granting these types of requests. “My roommate and I play the same sport,” freshman Jaime Rodden said, “so we decided to room together and it couldn’t have worked out better. We are very close and I consider her my best friend at college. We spend a ton of time together and it never gets boring.” Fraternity living For the male students on campus, fraternity living is a very appealing option for those who decide to go Greek. “I chose to live in Pike because I wanted to feel closer to my brothers,” sophomore Cruz Morey said. “I also felt that living in a fraternity would be an experience I would never get to have again.” Morey has lived in the Pi Kappa
Alpha house for about a year now, and he says it is not always easy. “You don’t get the luxury of people cleaning your bathrooms or checking in on you,” Morey said. “You basically fend for yourself.” Fraternity houses go through a many years of wear-and-tear, and sometimes things like furniture aren’t as new as they are in dorm rooms. “But to that effect, there is an essence of legacy in the house,” Morey said. “Knowing that countless other brothers have lived in this same room is pretty humbling and cool.” One of the most difficult parts of fraternity living for many students is how far away the houses are from other things on campus. “There’s a stigma that is carried with fraternity houses,” Morey said. “I wouldn’t trade the experience, though.” Choosing your roommate Come sophomore year, many more students find they like the option of choosing their own roommate. For sophomores Brianna Snipes and Stephanie Hofmann, this was an incredibly easy decision. The girls were randomly matched to be roommates their freshmen year. “You would think it was because we were both on cheer,” Snipes said, “But no one else on out team has been randomly assigned together so I don’t think that was the case.” Snipes and Hofmann clicked immediately and chose to live together this year as well. “We’re different majors, in different sororities, and have a little bit different friend groups, but it’s perfect,” Snipes said. “She’ll totally be a best friend for life… and I owe it to some random girl who matched us up. Shout out to her.” Another opportunity sophomores have that typically freshmen don’t is the option to live in a triple. “I chose to live with my two best friends and it has been amazing,” one sophomore said. “They have acted as a constant support system and are always there to talk to.” However, triple rooms involve more people, and more people can make for more conflict. “It was hard at times when we had disagreements or irritations,” the sophomore said. “There wasn’t really anywhere to go because you are all together… but we got over that pretty quick.” Triples also offer students a bigger living space to compensate for the extra bodies in the room. “It is awesome to have the space and the two people to live with,” the sophomore said, “But it is a little tougher to have your own down time compared to a double.” Apartment living Junior and senior year, students have the option to live in apartments. They can finally move off of the meal plan and have their own kitchen, bathroom, and lounge space. Apartments can range from doubles, to triples, to quads. “I’ve really liked living in double apartments,” senior Alyssa Townsend said. “I get to live with one of my best friends and still get the roommate experience, while still having plenty of space since it’s just the two of us.” As students get older and experience more rooming situations, some come to find that sometimes it may be better not to live with your best friend. A pair of current seniors lived together with their other closest friend
Rosa Johnson/Managing editor Pioneer Hall is one of 12 dorms on Linfield’s campus. Students can also live in on and off-campus apartments. in a triple their sophomore year, and they found that they did not get along as roommates. “We are closer as friends when we don’t live with each other,” one of the seniors said. “We just have different levels of messiness and couldn’t handle the confined space.” Junior Heidi Morisset has experienced the pros and cons of living with close friends. “Sometimes it’s hard to live with friends,” Morisset said, “Because you don’t want to ruin a friendship by confronting them about things.” For some situations, living with someone you didn’t know beforehand can work out in the roommates’ favor if they become friends in the process of rooming together. “But sometimes it’s good to live with a friend and gain a stronger bond,” Morisset said. Roommate conflicts Unfortunately, there are always going to be circumstances when two people are simply unable to work out their differences. For one senior, being assigned a roommate did not work out in her favor. “People would come by the room at like 4 a.m. every night and talk to [my roommate], and she screamed at me when I asked her to wait until the morning,” the senior said. “She would get super twitchy and defensive and mean when I confronter her about the simplest things.” One sophomore was assigned a random roommate her freshman year, and she too tried to confront her about issues that came about. “She hated me,” the sophomore said. “When I asked her why she hated me she told me I wasn’t worth it. She freaked out on me and screamed.” Others find that, given the right situations, they can make most of their rooming situations work. “I’m good at making people make conversation,” junior Cassie Fisher said. Junior Emily Griffin came to the realization that she herself may not have been the easiest person to live with.
“I know I’m the one who is hard to live with,” Griffin said. “I’m grumpy when I just wake up, I get into bad moods where I just want to be along, I’m a light sleeper and I love my personal space.” This is definitely the case for many students. Many of them find that living in a single room is their preferred option. “I ended up living in a single for Jan Term and spring,” one freshman said. “[My roommate] and I had different perspectives on things and were a part of two completely different social groups, so we didn’t really get along.” This particular freshman’s roommate ended up moving into a different room with another student. “I never got assigned a new roommate,” the freshman said. “Luckily I love living alone and am thinking about paying extra for it next year if possible.” Senior Ian Cox has lived in on-campus housing for all four years of his Linfield education. Although the experience may
vary from person to person, Cox said he had a wonderful experience every year with his living situation. “Residing in the residence halls or on-campus apartments provides an opportunity unmet in any other way to fulfill the mission of attending a liberal arts school, to develop one’s self into a well-rounded individual in academics as well as creating the foundation for personal sustainability,” Cox said. Cox now lives in an HP apartment. He enjoys how these on-campus apartments provide a perfect combination of inclusiveness while still giving students their own individual space since each roommate gets their own room. “I believe that the social development and personal connections that are made through living on campus are equally important to any piece of information that may be obtained in a classroom,” Cox said.
Mikenna Whatley can be reached at linfieldreviewfeatures@gmail.com.
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Features
March 16, 2015
Glen Coco, a Syberian dwarf hamster, sits in his food bowl as he experiences life in a dorm. Hamsters along with any furry pets are banned from on-campus housing.
Pet Peeves
Students share their on-campus hidden pets Dana Brumley & Kaelia Neal For the Review
Have you ever thought you heard a dog bark or a cat meow in a residence hall or apartment? Maybe you did. A pet on campus is a violation of Linfield’s policies and procedures, but some students think it is worth the risk. A student in a residence hall, who asked for anonymity, used to have her cat, Shadow, living in the dorm with her. She would carry Shadow from building to building in a duffle bag with her friends to keep him hidden. “My cat, Shadow, was nice to have to pet and play with when I was stressed and wanted to take a break,” she said. Another student living in the HP apartments had two kittens for a while, but they were caught by campus safety when one of the roommates was locked out. The kittens, Bruce and Alex, brought fun, love and lessons about responsibility to the HP apartment residents. The student explained that when adopting the cats, she and her roommates had a plan for if they got caught, but when the time came to give them up, it was really hard. The Residence Life page on the Linfield website states that “animals of any kind—except for harmless fish in an aquarium, not to exceed 10-gallon capacity—are prohibited within all residence halls and all cam-
pus apartments.” Jeff Mackay, associate dean of students and director of residence life, said the only other time pets are allowed to live on campus is when they are in the Legacy apartments, located off campus, because of the cat pilot program. The program allows residents to have one cat per apartment for a $300 fee per year. He said, “The cat policy was designed with two purposes in mind, (1) as an incentive to increase students’ interest in the Legacy Apartments as well as to enhance the experience of independent living that the Legacies ideally offer; and (2) to give upper class students the option of having a cat on campus.” If a pet is caught in a residence hall, the residents will have to jointly pay a standard $150 cleaning fee and pay for any additional costs from damages after Facilities does a walk-through. If the pet is not removed within 48 hours there is a fee of $75 a day. Senior Emily Meinel said that having a cat would have made her college experience better overall and would have lowered her stress levels. Another student, who asked for anonymity, says small pets should be allowed, especially animals such as hamsters or cats. She has a hamster named Kevin, a Roborovski Dwarf hamster. Kevin, who is actually a female, lives in a small cage with lots of toys. She was named after the bird in “Up.”
“She is really fun to have, keeps me company, and calms me down,” Kevin’s owner said. “I can see why hamsters wouldn’t be allowed in dorms since they are nocturnal and loud at night, but in the apartments you can just put their cage in the bathroom.” Another college apartment resident, who also asked for anonymity, is keeping a secret turtle named Yertle. “It was a Christmas present and I’ve never considered not having him with me at all times,” she said. She said a turtle is “not a pet that needs attention” and is “super low-maintenance.” “Having an animal makes me more comfortable,” she said, and “is a source of entertainment.” Chris Poole, a resident adviser, said, “I think the pet policy serves a good purpose. In residence halls the animal policy is a good idea since residents all live under the same roof and are all exposed to the same elements. “If an animal escapes a room, it can cause a disturbance in the residence hall,” Poole said. Some students have a relationship with their pets that is hard to leave, including freshman Rebeca De Leon. “I grew up with a pet pretty much all my life, so it was hard to come and not have one,” De Leon said. Dana Brumley & Kaelia Neal can be reached at linfieldrevieweditor@gmail. com
Bruce and Alex look out of the window of the HP apartment that they lived in before they were caught by Campus Safety. The only campus housing that offers a cat-friendly option are the Legacies.
Yertle the turtle was a Christmas gift ot his owner who is holding him. Only ”harmless fish in an aquarium that does not exceed 10-gallons” are allowed in residence halls and campus apartments. Photos courtesy of all the anonymous pet owners